Help getting my lawn tractor running?

I have a John Deere lawn tractor. It has fuel, the battery is charged, the brake is on, the lights come on, but nobody's home! The motor is turning over but it's not catching. Not even sounding like it's trying or wanting to catch.

Can anyone walk me through a few things to try to get it going? It was under shelter but outside all winter. I put fresh fuel in, but wondering if it's lack of spark, but that's where my knowledge ends. I don't even know how to check that.

Any takers? If you're near I will buy you a coffee and make you some cookies. If you're far, I will buy you a Tim's card.

You could do what I have been threatening to do with my husbands Ride Mowers that don't run. Get some goats. Tie the goats to the tractor, and the goats can pull the tractor. The grass will get mowed much faster.

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Sorry. I'm not much help. We have 3 of the things, and none of them work. I'm still push mowing our acre and a half lawn. Ride Lawn Mowers are a sore point with me.

Take your spark plug out, reconnect it to the wire and lay it against the metal on the motor and turn it over Make sure the little L shaped thingy on the bottom of the spark plug is what is touching the motor when you go to turn it over. If you watch on that little L thingy you should see a spark if the plug is good. If that is good pour a little (just a dribble) into the spark plug hole put the plug back in and try firing it again. Aldo before putting the spark plug back in or throwing it away take a little Emory cloth or sand paper and clean the L shape metal on the side if the plug. Sometimes that gets bunged up with junk. If that doesn't work let me know. There maybe another issue that is a lot harder to fix. Hope this works and you can get it going.

Thanks dad for teaching your little girl how to work on motors!! LOL. Am I ever glad he did because with hubby being gone so much I can't rely on him to do it!!

Had the same thing happen with the riding lawn mower yesterday...
Someone forgot to drain all the gas out of the mower.
We removed all the gas and added new gas and away it went!

Hopefully it is the same thing for you.

Check under the carb to see if it has a ""cup"" ? It's a area that can gather gunk and water etc ( screw on the bottom that will release it ) and if there is stuff in there that's not fuel you could end up pulling it into the carb thus making it harder to start .That's what it sounds like to me , it's turning over so there is spark ,just not getting the fuel ( you might want to change the fuel filter as well )

Thanks for your replies! I will try and do some of what you suggest. I'm not sure where anything is, so will have to go slowly, but I will do what I can. I have considered sheep too, not goats as I thought they don't graze well, but seriously, I've been letting the horses on the lawn just to keep it down a bit.

Thanks!

So glad it's stopped raining. I cut my small yard with my electric mower and it was 6" + in some spots already!!

What kind of JD do you have and what engine?

Hope the simple stuff works for you. Ours was acting like you describe and the timing was off. A pin had sheered off so the flywheel wasn't turning right. It all has to be exact so the spark plug fires at the moment of compression. Easy fix for a mechanic.

If it was running well when you stored it for the winter the problem probably is a cleaning thing. A spider spending the winter in the ignition, a dirty spark plug, water or dirt in the fuel.

Thanks Rosewood, that's encouraging. I want to try to do this with a minimum of cash outlay. It was running fine when I parked it. I will report back with model # later, if you've got more to add.

There are JD forums just like there are chicken forums. Checking them may be helpful especially if it is an antique like me.

If it's cranking and not fireing up it's the fuel that is the issue ...........check the cup !

Rosewood, you are far from an antique. You may feel old somedays, and your wealth of knowledge may weigh you down, but don't forget - we've met. I know you're just a spring chicken.

However if I ever need help with the '44 Model A, I'm guessing you might want to help.

The little lawn tractor is not old. It's somewhere around a 2002 JD LT160 Automatic. I will see what I can find on the i'net, and I will try and follow the good advice you've all given me (short of goats and sweettalking).

The little lawn tractor is not old. It's somewhere around a 2002 JD LT160 Automatic.

It is a bit newer than my 1967 John Deere 110 that I restored about 5 years ago and now is needing another restoration after using it many time every day until last fall. I'll check to see what is likely with yours.

The carb has an electric fuel solenode that stops working when it is dirty from a period of being stored. I would check if it has a spark first as someone suggested before. Also check that the spark plug is clean.

Here is the '44 JD Model A tractor I'm referring to. It's a neat old piece of iron, originally delivered to my current town when it was shipped from the factory back in the day.

This is my 1967 JD. It came with a triple blade mower which apparently is rare and a tiller. A label said it was originally sold in Salmon Arm. The price would have been around $800. JD tried to sell some painted bright colours to attract lady buyers, but this marketiing scheme was a total failure.

Troubles starting after being parked for the winter are more often than not, dirty fuel issues. Condensation forms inside the tank with the changes in air temperature. The first thing you want to do is drain all the old fuel, and put in fresh. You can also add a bit of methyl hydrate to get rid of any water in there.
Either filling, or completely draining your tank before parking it for the winter will help prevent this.

Okay. this is all just beyond me. I can't find a "cup" (looked at Youtube) and I don't have any way to get the spark plug out. Damn it!! I feel so helpless!! Grrrrr. I'm going to keep trying though. I don't want to let my lawn tractor get the better of me.

The cup is the lower part of the carb, it is most likly screwed on from the bottom and it will be a 7/16 to a 1/2 inch bolt head .What year is your tractor ? If you can crank it then you have spark most likly ,it's the fuel that isn;t getting to the spark .Did you check for a fuel filter ? some have it inline ,some have it where the fuel line enters the carb ? You could try Quick Start spray into the carb ? sometimes if it wants to start then that is enough to get it running ?, just a qick little spray and then give it a crank .If you want then PM me with the year and modle and I'll see what I can dig up on it

From an earlier post

The little lawn tractor is not old. It's somewhere around a 2002 JD LT160 Automatic. I will see what I can find on the i'net, and I will try and follow the good advice you've all given me (short of goats and sweettalking).

It has a Kohler engine.

I added fresh fuel, checked the air and inline fuel filters (both seem okay) and battery is charged. The carb definitely does not have a drain screw on it.

I looked at a bunch of forums, and because it intermittently will not crank over, I am thinking I may be dealing with "Flywheel key shear" and the timing is screwed up. So....I think I'm going to have to call in the calvary.

I can't even get it into my truck to bring it in to be fixed. Lordy, sometimes being a single person trying to run a homestead just feels HARD.

Oh well, I'll figure it out. Thanks again everyone.

Sometimes it is hard running a farm with 7 people. This morning a brand new tire went flat with Mother's day tomorrow and DIL working over night at Clearwater. Our son had his truck partly apart for new axle seals and the tire shop booked up for the day. The tire is fixed and the truck is apart again.